Galaxy Garrison one shot
by sarah.ayn.1
Summary: Keith moves in at the Garrison, and meets his roommate, and other one shots
1. Chapter 1

_I number among those who HC Shiro has a twin, also that he is related to Keith, or they know each other, in some way, before the Garrison. I favor a possibility of adoption. For the purpose of this story, they are cousins, wherein Keith has been taken in by the Shiroganes after the loss of both parents._

* * *

Keith hefted his backpack, sighed, and read the hand-scrawled sign on the wall next to the door, again.

 _The floor is lava! Don't fall in!_

He peered into the room, again. The dorm room he was to share with one other cadet was a scene of chaos. What furniture that could be disarrayed, was.

There was one mattress on the floor, a chair was in the middle of the room, empty drawers had been pulled out of their slots and lay about the floor haphazardly, and there was a cap, shirt, pants and shoes layered to look as though someone might have fallen in.

He glanced up at the older boys to either side of him and stepped back to give them room.

Shiro held the door jamb and leaned into the room to crane his neck for a better view, "Looks like your dorm-mate has a bit of an imagination, Akira," Shiro stood back up to give his twin a turn to gape,"he's got a path to the bathroom, at least."

"What's this guy's name," Ryo leaned in as Shiro had, then glanced back at his cousin, with his upper lip curled.

"Uh, Darryl Stoker," Keith read from the slip of paper.

"Well? Are you going to see if you can make it into your room," Shiro gestured with his arm and a slight bow, grinning at the youth.

"I...I don't -," Keith shrugged, shifting the weight of his backpack on his narrow shoulders. It was packed almost as big as him, and weighed about as much, but he adamantly refused to let either of his cousins carry it for him.

"Oh, come on!" Ryo swatted the younger boy's chest before jumping into the nearest drawer, landing on one foot. He glanced back at his twin and cousin, and waggled his brows before hopping out of sight, into the next three drawers. The last drawer had been laid upside down, unfortunately, and Ryo's weight caused the upturned box to skid, which threw the teen off his balance. Ryo flailed his arms before pulling them in and up for a push off thrust, but didn't quite clear the bedframe. He landed loudly on the empty bed-frame, the heavy wooden slats clattering under his weight. Ryo gasped and grunted expletives as he rolled onto his back, clutching his knee to his chest.

High pitched laughter burst from further within the room, "Dude! You should have seen yourself!"

"Ryo?" Shiro ripped the page off the wall before slipping past Keith, and was quickly by his twin's side.

"Hey! You didn't play by the rules!"

"Hey! It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt," Shiro snapped at the boy who had been staking watch from the bathroom.

The sandy-haired boy was still chuckling when he asked, "You okay, dude? ...Wait, are you guys twins?"

"He's quick," Ryo gingerly rolled up his pants leg to inspect his shin.

"Ryo," Keith dropped his backpack near the closet before crossing the room, "are you okay?"

"I will be."

"You sure? You fell pretty hard," Shiro peered at the small line of blood and swelling just above his twin's ankle.

"Yeah," Ryo sat up with a sigh, unrolling his pant leg. He fixed a side-long glare onto the sandy haired boy, "You Darryl?"

"So what if I am? I know you're not Keith."

"I'm Keith," Keith crossed his arms and fixed his own glare on the other boy.

"Oh, that would make a lot more sense, because you and I are the same year." Darryl squinted and pointed at them, "Are you related?"

"Yeah, we are," Shiro stood.

"If any of your pranks hurts our cousin, you'll be answering to us," Ryo gestured having his eye on the youth.

"Look, I'm sorry you got hurt, man. I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt," Darryl shoved his hands into his pockets, and leaned against the wall, propping a foot up, too.

Shiro suggested, "How about you straighten the room up, Darryl?"

The youth considered Shiro's words. The older boy seemed to be offering a suggestion, but something in this older boy's manner made the younger teen decide to take it as an order. Darryl pushed himself off the wall with a sigh, "Fine," and grabbed the two things nearest him. One of the drawers he was holding had been the overturned one, "This one's all bent," he exclaimed.

"If it had been like the others, it wouldn't be bent, now, and the accident wouldn't have happened," Shiro said.

"But it was hilarious," Darryl snorted as he carried the drawers over to the cabinet.

"Did you film it," Ryo asked.

Darryl grimaced, then sighed, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that would happen, or I wouldn't have moved the mattress." He slid one drawer into place and set the other in the closet.

"Well, try to think things through.. next time," Keith suggested.

"Yeah," Darryl found another drawer.

After a few moments of silently watching the boy, and exchanging glances with his twin and cousin, Shiro asked, "Where are you from, Darryl?"

"I'm from Iowa. Are you guys foreign? You look foreign. Where are you from?"

"How about you take a wild guess?"

"Ryo," Shiro hissed, then addressed Darryl, "We're from Washington*."

"Oh. I thought you might be from China."

"We're Japanese," Shiro said.

"You speak English pretty good. Have you been in the states long?"

"You're not so bad at speaking, either, for an American."

"All our lives," Keith scowled.

Darryl cringed when he glanced over his shoulder at Ryo. Then he sighed and shoved the last drawer into its slot.

Keith asked, "So, you're an engineer?"

"Yeah. You're a pilot?" Darryl slid the chair into place at the desk, then wrestled the mattress off the floor.

"Yeah."

"Can you stand? Um, Ryo," Darryl grimaced sheepishly.

"Yeah, I can stand," Ryo used Shiro's hand as leverage, then the young men stepped out of the youth's way.

"We're going to head into town for a meal once we got our cousin settled in. Want to join us, Darryl?"

Ryo swatted Shiro's chest, and glaring at his twin, mouthed, "What are you doing?"

"He's just a kid, give him a break," Shiro muttered back.

Ryo sneered, but kept quiet.

"I'd really like that, thanks," Darryl sat on the mattress he'd just righted.

Shiro said, "How about you get up, so Keith can make his bed. Then we'll go."

The young Iowan, blushed, nodded and pushed himself off the bed.

* * *

 _*This is in supposition, only. I couldn't find anything stating a definitive childhood home in any country, only ethnic background._


	2. Chapter 2

_Gather to wake me when the time is right_

 _How will we know-_

 _You will. Trust._

Leader's intention zipped through her circuitry as she searched galaxy after galaxy for a place to hide and await this right time Spirit Guardian had hinted at. Creator had been just as vague before closing Leader off, and sending the four of them away with their surviving magic asleep Companions.

She landed on a moon to pause before crossing empty space to the next galaxy. She had been across the span and breadth of this one, and had not found any of the water planets with life signs favorable to her liking. She was beginning to consider she was being too picky, but this was important, and she would cover the entire universe if she had to. She had plenty of time to do this properly. Companion would awaken when she landed on an appropriate sphere, and she trusted she hadn't come across an appropriate one, yet.

She didn't sense any enemy following, or before, her, nor had she for some time, she realized. Fire guardian's distractions must have worked. The metal craft sprung up off the cratered orb, and was soon leaving the outer meteor rim, flying into open space. She opened her maw and let out a sonar wave. Several water planets bounced back to her. She sped across the span quickly, keeping her guard up. Now was not the time to fall prey to enemy surprises.

As she closed in on the nearest arm of the spiral, she let out more sonar waves to zero in on her quarry. This particular arm didn't have what she was looking for, but she was picking up nuances of water from the next arm over to the right, or two over to the left.

She filed away the layout of this arm of celestial bodies, and chose to fly to the right. The planet in the next arm wasn't quite what she was looking for, either. There were more arms with more planets. She pushed on, always to the right.

A planet nursed by a yellow star caught her attention. She landed on the satellite of the blue speck to inspect it closer. A sonic wave told her this orb possessed conditions that were favorable for hiding out the wait.

This water was the correct balance for a hominid species, and the one dominate sentient species was showing signs of evolving in ways complimentary to Creator's kind. They were land-based, at least. Yellow would approve of that.

She leaped off the moon to orbit closer for a better scan, and was nearly detected by the many fierce warrior clans dispersed across the breadth of that bunch of landmasses, on one side of the world. They were inquisitive and clever, this species. That was what would appease Green.

The other side of the world proved to be birthing ground of progressive weaponry and battle tactics, among other inventions. Their passion, bravery and creativity would win Red over.

When some inventor warrior people embarked an adventure that brought them face to face with the warrior star gazers, it dawned on her that she had found her choice planet for her concealment. Under cover of pre-dawn, she entered the planet's atmosphere and followed a wending sliver of flowing water to its head, before backtracking to a sizable cavern. Companion would require water and solitude when her landing awakened him.

She set down as gently as she could, purring as she sensed Companion stirring.

"Mmph... Wha-? ...What happened?" Companion unlatched his safety harness and got up to find a dehydrate food. Then he sat back down and began to flick controls to sift through data files. "Where are we, Blue?"

Companion spent several hours studying the information Blue had gathered for him, breaking periodically to perform his kind's body maintenance, and to retrieve water.

"You brought us to a primitive planet? You couldn't find a more advanced species?" Companion stamped his feet as he shot up from his seat and stormed out of the cabin.

Blue was perplexed as she let Companion out. She didn't comprehend his knot of emotions.

He walked several meters away, turned his face to the sky, and screamed into the night. His anguish reverberated eerily throughout the quiet canyon. He repeated this yell thrice more before falling to his knees, and beating his fist on the ground. Then he sat on his heels, and threw his head back with a final yowl.

"Do you have any idea how long we're going to have to wait for these people to just get airborne?" Companion turned to glare up at the massive space craft and answered his own question, "No, of course you have no idea how long this will take. Your kind were created in a matter of decades." Companion's shoulders sagged and he looked down, continuing, "By us, and others like us." Then Companion looked up at Blue's face again, "Blue, I'm never going home... I don't know if I can make this my home." Companion unhitched his blade and stared at the emblem.

Blue watched Companion and waited patiently. She had watched, or sensed, Companion do this many times when he was contemplating options. She also listened, as Companion tended to mutter when he thought.

The data files showed this planet's sentient species had vastly different physical differences from his own mixed heritage. His Altean roots would allow him to affect their skin tone and size, but he would still have an alien appearance. He couldn't do a thing about his ears or yellow eyes, for instance. He would have to be very careful how he approached these infants.

"Blue, there was something in your files about weapons technology... they're at the mixing metals stage, but there was something about some of them mixing powders that explode when ignited, right? I might have a way in, but I think I'll have to be on the other side of the planet to do it."

Blue was pleased Companion had thought of something so quickly. It meant she had done her part well. She opened her maw for him. Companion spent a moon phase scouting areas and gathering intelligence pertinent to hominid species, before sending her back to the canyon, alone.

Blue had no idea what amount of time had passed when she sensed Companion's energy, again, only it was different and her lair was almost completely drained. She couldn't connect with him, as she had been able to, before. Sometimes he would come right up close to her, but then he would leave, as though he couldn't remember where to go, or how to get to her.

Then the one carrying Companion's changed energy came back with others, and there was one among them that reminded her of Companion's first meet energy. She was surprised when the youth swiped his hand across the trail of markings she and Companion had magicked together, and she felt the boy's energy spark the trigger and they fell through her trap. She was able to connect with this new hominid and she singled him from the others. He was persistence and he had with him a leader, a dependable right-hand, a good heart, and a curious and sharp mind.

Her wait was over. It was time to go home.


End file.
